Pi Day ~ and Celebrating the Birth Day of Albert Einstein

There are days and there is
today ~ 14th of March .. .. !- have never read about Ulm, a city in the federal German state of
Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. Today, it is an economic
centre due to its varied industries, and it is the seat of the University of
Ulm. The Kingdom of Württemberg was a German state that existed from 1805 to
1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg~ and this place is linked to a great person
born this day .. !!No need
to ask – how good one was in Mathematics, considered to be tough by many.By measuring circular objects, it has always
turned out that a circle is a little more than 3 times its width around. The
mathematician Archimedes used polygons with many sides to approximate circles
and determined that Pi was approximately 22/7. The symbol (Greek letter “π”)
was first used in 1706 by William Jones. A ‘p’ was chosen for ‘perimeter’ of
circles, and the use of π became popular after it was adopted by the Swiss
mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737. In recent years, Pi has been calculated
to over one trillion digits past its decimal. Only 39 digits past the decimal
are needed to accurately calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe,
but because of Pi’s infinite & patternless nature, it’s a fun challenge to
memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.Here is how Google celebrates it with a
doodle..A mathematical constant is a
special number that is "significantly interesting in some way". What
it means for a constant to arise "naturally", and what makes a
constant "interesting", is ultimately a matter of taste, and some
mathematical constants are notable more for historical reasons than for their
intrinsic mathematical interest. All
mathematical constants are definable numbers and usually are also computable
numbers.The
number π (paɪ) is
a mathematical constant. Originally defined as the ratio of a circle's
circumference to its diameter, it now has various equivalent definitions and
appears in many formulas in all areas of mathematics and physics. It is
approximately equal to 3.14159. It has been represented by the Greek letter
"π" since the mid-18th century, though it is also sometimes spelled
out as "pi".Being an irrational
number, π cannot be expressed exactly as a common fraction (equivalently, its
decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating
pattern). Still, fractions such as 22/7 and other rational numbers are commonly
used to approximate π. The digits appear to be randomly distributed. Ancient
civilizations required fairly accurate computed values for π for practical
reasons, including the Egyptians and Babylonians. Because its most elementary
definition relates to the circle, π is found in many formulae in trigonometry
and geometry, especially those concerning circles, ellipses, and spheres. Pi
Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. The
2018 NASA Pi Day challenge features math problems used by several of the
agency's missions, like the InSight Mars lander, Kepler space telescope and
Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. NASA is inviting the public to celebrate Pi Day
(March 14) by sharing a series of cosmic calculations for kids and adults to
solve.The "Pi in the
Sky" challenge was created by the Education Office of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and is now in its fifth
year. The challenge will feature math problems to calculate for Martian
earthquakes, helium rain on Jupiter and the rotation rate of the first
interstellar visitor ever discovered, asteroid 'Oumuamua. The topics of last
year's Pi Day challenge included craters with butterfly-shaped ejecta, or
tossed material, and the total solar eclipse. The problems, aimed at the sixth grade through
high school level ("but fun for all," NASA officials wrote), ask
students to evaluate a Martian impact crater; a total solar eclipse, like the
one that will cross America on Aug. 21; the final orbits and "grand finale
dive" of the Saturn orbiter Cassini; and the newly discovered planets
around the star TRAPPIST-1.Today also marks
the birth of Albert Einstein.Albert
Einstein was not into birthdays. The legendary theoretical physicist, born in
Germany on March 14, 1879, resisted being the center of attention, telling LIFE
he believed that “birthdays are for children.” But on his 74th birthday, in
1953, he made an exception. When Yeshiva University of New York requested to
build a medical school in his name, he agreed—despite feeling the same way
about such honors as he did about birthdays—and attended a fundraising luncheon
in his honor.“For the occasion,”
LIFE reported, “Einstein shed his characteristic baggy sweater and slacks, put
on a gray suit. But he found it less easy to shed a lifetime of shyness.” When
all was said and done, the luncheon had raised $3.5 million for what is now the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “I am glad it is over,” was all the
honoree had to say about it. He died two years later, on April 18, 1955.Maths,
too perhaps be interesting for some !!With regards – S.
Sampathkumar14th Mar
2018.